This little piece of cyberspace is tended to by your friendly neighborhood international - financial - analyst by day and wanna - be - writer by night. Originally, this page was created to keep everyone back home (Austin, Texas - keep it weird!) updated on my new life in Germany. I hope you can learn a little about life in another culture as well as your own culture through this page, and maybe even have a laugh (usually at my expense) while doing so.

Tuesday, March 28, 2006

Eierlegende... what???

Thanks to Eleanor, who always so kindly and patiently corrects my German, a grave semantic mistake has been brought to my attention. In the Hohegrete entry, I described a new word: "Eierlegendevollmilchsau." The correct word is actually "Eierlegendewollmilchsau." Is there really that drastic of a semantic difference when replacing a 'v' with a 'w', you might ask. Yes, indeed, there is.

voll = full, complete, totally

die Vollmilch = whole milk

die Wolle = wool

die Wollmilch = wool milk (nonsense word)

[aside: a German 'v' is pronounced as an English 'f'. A German 'w' is pronounced as an English 'v'.]

I originally understood and translated the word as an "egg-laying, whole-milk-producing pig" when it should have been an "egg-laying, wool-and-milk-producing pig." The talents and abilities of this creature were obviously underestimated, as was the creative power of the German language, and I thus offer my deepest condolences.

The moral of the story? If someone is butchering your language, let them know (thanks, Eleanor!). It'll only help them improve.

Lyric of the day: "All I hear is radio ga-ga, radio goo-goo, radio ga-ga." (Thanks to Queen!)